Kenyan citizens feel so strongly that they have not been involved in the procurement processes at Local Authorities (LA's) as per applicable laws, a new survey report commissioned by Kara and supported by Usaid/PactKenya now reveals.

Majority (76%) of members of the public in all LA's sampled had not seen a copy of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 and Regulations of 2001/2006.

The study conducted in Nairobi, Machakos, Mombasa and Nakuru further discovered that 90% of the respondents believe that LA’s are not transparent on procurement and disposal issues.

94% of the respondents indicated that their respective LA's have not taken time to educate them on the reformed public procurement system.On the other hand, 89% of those interviewed indicated that they are not involved by their respective LA’s in procurement activities.

84.8% of the respondents think that corrupt practices regarding public procurement and disposal are still rampant at the Local Authorities. The Kara research spearheaded by a seasoned governance scholar, Prof. Peter Lewa, was conducted as part of the activities under a program supported by Usaid through PactKenya.

The program seeks to enhance procurement and disposal service delivery at the LA’s by identifying gaps relating to public participation and oversight role in the existing public procurement and disposal procedures. It also aims at ensuring that citizens are more effectively monitoring and holding the LA’s accountable with regard to public procurement and disposal services.

The purpose of the research was to understand the extent of involvement of citizens in the public procurement processes in Local Authorities (LA).